Stephanie Ward, a vice president of the Justice Resource Institute, that runs the Wood School in Swansea, has won a service award for her dedication in helping the state’s most challenged youth.

She recently received the Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools award at the MAAPS annual conference in Marlboro.

Ward started working for Justice Resource Institute’s Wood Street School in Swansea 35 years ago.

“It’s still exciting even after 35 years,” Ward said.

Ward through the years has climbed the ladder. She has distinguished herself by working with some of the most challenging adolescents and adults in the organization and in the state.

She directed intensive care units for the state’s youth and mental health departments, most recently for the Swansea Wood School and Meadowridge Academy, which are Chapter 766-approved residential schools.

Ward served as president of the MAAPS board for a two-year term that started in 2011 and has chaired several committees.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from College of the Holy Cross, a master’s degree from Bridgewater State University, and two post-graduate certificates in non-profit executive management from the one-year MAAPS-Suffolk University program and Boston University where she has mentored students since 2009.

When Ward began her career at Justice Resource Institute, it was a small outreach program to help kids who could not be educated in the public school system due to complex diagnoses and trauma issues.

Over the years, Justice Resource Institute has grown to employ 2,000 staffers and to offer services in four states. It operates schools, and offers behavioral, trauma and health services to a large clientele.

The Wood Street School opened in 1987 to serve adolescents with cognitive impairment or mental health diagnoses who were “not well served in the classroom setting,” Ward said.

Five years later, Justice Resource Institute opened Meadowridge Academy. Today there are five Meadowridge schools that blend education and trauma treatment for adolescents.

Justice Resource Institute CEO Andy Pond said Ward “has been an integral part of JRI for the last 30-plus years. But she’s never been one to rest on her professional laurels.”

“She’s a skilled clinician, and as a vice president, Stephanie has contributed greatly to the growth and development of JRI over the past decade,” he continued. “In the past five years she’s become a widely known systems expert and advocate for special education funding and support. She does it all — from one-on-one contact, to leadership at a state and national level.”